Hindsight is 20/20. The State's Attorney's office reports that Melvin Jones was denied bail. An investigation is being launched against the boy's family since his mother knew that Jones was a registered sex offender yet still allowed him to see her son. (Simple logic leads me to the conclusion that we should consider charges against the state as well: they also knew he was a registered sex offender yet still allowed him to be free.)
Two men were killed in two separate shootings yesterday. Davon Hines (#163) and another man were shot in Middle East at 5:30 yesterday morning, and Darron Gaines (#162) was killed at a playground in Cherry Hill at about 3:00am.
An innocent bystander was killed in Hagerstown by a man who reportedly said, "I missed whoever I was aiming for."
A candlelight vigil for murdered prison guard David McGuinn.
Brandon Morris claims he doesn't remember breaking out of his shackle, grabbing a gun, killing officer Jeffery Wroten, taking a hostage, carjacking a cab, robbing the driver, having a car chase, or crashing the taxi. He does, however, remember waking up outdoors in his boxer shorts.
Martin Rocha-Garcia was arrested in North Carolina for charges including "perverted practice" against a 13-year-old Carroll County girl.
People having sex in the backyard??? Oh, and a man was charged with stabbing three people.
Sharif Taylor got four years for carrying a handgun, on top of the 10 year sentence for voluntary manslaughter for killing his uncle last year.
Charges were dropped against a teen who brought a stolen gun to school.
The above article also reports that a 12-year-old in Annapolis is in stable condition after being shot by his 8-year-old cousin.
Eric Pinno was sentenced to 12 years for his cross-country coke operation.
A Baltimore cop was arrested in PA for using a stolen American Express card.
A cabbie crashed his car and caught a bank robber.
An incoherent bank robber and a vain man with a butcher knife in the Blotter.
A $44M dollar award in a local police brutality case.
26 comments:
In terms of culpability, who do you blame more: the drug addicted criminal mother who lets a known child molestor have access to her son in return for help with the groceries now and then, or the useless, lazy, and incompetent parole officers who failed to supervised Jones?
If being a useless, lazy, and incompetent parole officer was a crime, 80% of the city's parole officers would be in jail right now.
(Simple logic leads me to the conclusion that we should consider charges against the state as well: they also knew he was a registered sex offender yet still allowed him to be free.)
- Chuck
Hmmm. Sounds like you're coming around to my way of thinking (call the psych ward) that local government is demonstrating depraved indifference to highly probable and imminent criminality. The fact that they'd like to save a coupla shekels by looking the other way until its a fait accompli doesn't much impress me as a defense.
A really good measure of the quality of a city's criminal justice is how many offenses could have been prevented, but for the refusal to allocate resources.
Low-crime jurisdictions are distinguished by the sheer randomness of their incidents: solid citizens going postal in a 7-11 after being left by their wives, drifters passing through town and robbing old Ms. Jones at gunpoint, an employee heisting the cash register to pay off a bad losing streak at the racetrack.
Most of our crime, however, is committed by people we've known for years because they've been in and out of custody for years. That Tavon was gonna commit a felony again was kinda unsurprising, which means it was preventable. The only excuse for not policing adequately is that the Mayor wants to build a Convention Hotel or maybe hand a brown paper bag full'o cash to Sheila Dixon's sister. I know it's not to paint the city's schools, because I already have to do that job for them.
They can protect the citizens, they just don't wish to. Rotten cities hire too few cops.
Everyman, ok, so the P.O.'s are sometimes useless. Fire 'em. I'm good with that. I've called them on VOP and been told that I need the perp's social security number so they can figure out who his P.O. is. (Gee, now where did I put all the soc. numbers of all the hoodlums in town???)
But the crack-addict mother doesn't get let off the hook. It's not about punishing only the most culpable, it's about punishing all of those who are culpable. And, yes, in Baltimore that could take some doing, because so few here are good for anything here.
In many ways, we are all responsible for Irvin's murder and for nearly all the murders here.
Our politicians, our elected leaders, our government employees... they all work for us. But as a boss, we (collectively) have done a terrible job of demanding quality from our employees. We have ignored their misbehavior for far too long.
While I agree with you on many things, Galt, I don't agree that simply hiring more police will solve this problem. Until we have a populace that is educated, informed, employed, and engaged -- people who understand what it means to demand quality leadership -- the symptoms of our city's disease will continue to occur with alarming regularity. Police will stop the bleeding (which is important) but they won't heal the source problem.
One of the few things that actually makes me hopeful about this city is the Master Plan. While I suspect it's simply more political posturing, if we -- the people and the leaders -- make a serious commitment to providing real opportunities to Live, Earn, Play, and Learn, our city will improve dramatically. The typical city resident can't do any of those four things in a safe and reliable manner. Until that changes, nothing will change.
That's why I asked a few weeks ago what the regulars here were doing to effect change. Interestingly, Simon was pretty harshly attacked, but he seemed to be involved in a lot of groups that are trying to make improvements. I pose the question again: What are each of you doing to improve life in the city? What more could you be doing? Galt, are you actively doing anything to generate funding for more police, or are you just running your mouth? Simon, are you actively engaged in the organizations you mentioned, or are you just name-dropping?
As for me, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not doing s--t. I just sit here and type. It's not enough, so I'm trying to figure out what else to do.
Our murder numbers are right on track with Houston's. 'Course, as the fourth largest city in the nation with a 2,000,000+ population, their per capita murder rate is less than one-fifth ours.
We're over five and a half times as murderous as our larger counterparts. Then again, Houston has 5,343 full-time sworn officers, compared with our 3,000 or so, but I'm sure that's just a coincidence.
Chuck, is this the first 'Plan' you've seen introduced in Baltimore? We did this before in 1996-99, just excluding the zoning component. The plans don't mean squat. Great words, no substance. And you're right, public officials will misbehave until they face a more functional electorate.... deport all the ignorant bastards in Baltimore. I won't stop you.
The members of the Public Safety Subcommitte will tell you that I have been very, very active in seeking to compel the police administration to comply with Public Local Laws 16-2 and hire adequate cops. The problem, so you know, is not funding. Good ol' Commr. Hamm has not exhausted his salary appropriations for the past year. There was still money in the till as of the close of the fiscal year. Where he blew money was on OT, where he exceeded his allotment. He's just failed to secure staff. He's just failed to do what a Police Commissioner must. He needs to offer a competitive compensation package. This is a very undesirable jurisdiction to work in. You get shot at.
Chuck, something which you could contribute, depending upon the neighborhood you live in and your risk tolerance, is neighborhood patrol, neighborhood walkers, COPS, or the like. I've been doing it for many years and I'd be happy to get you started. We usually recommend that you do so in pairs or trios, with a cell phone and flashlight on hand.
galt, I'm pretty interested in this neighborhood patrol business. I live in a pretty sketchy area, but haven't heard of this. What exactly do you do?
Basically, you provide the routine street patrol which the Police Commissioner is expected to do.
Two or more neighbors, possibly with a dog or two, select a period of maybe an hour or two and walk a designated beat, observing suspicious or criminal conduct. As to overt crimes, you just call in to 911 and give them detailed information. As to more dubious conduct, you observe and analyze until you think you understand what they're doing. Then you let the police know what you've discovered.
When your neighbors become accustomed to seeing you at night, they feel a bit more comfortable venturing out and provide additional eyes.
In dicy neighborhoods, criminals will sometimes decide that dealing on your block is just too much trouble, so they leave. In really bad neighborhoods like mine, entrenched hoodlums can be kinda territorial and so can present a hazard. That's what happened to my associate, Edna McAbier.
So, if you're interested, particularly for women, don't do it alone. And take it casually at first. Surveil. Your instincts will tell you what to do next. Also, don't walk too far from a safe location, either your home or that of someone you trust. You don't want to be in the middle of nowhere with a potentially unhappy hoodlum aware of you.
Another solution is to conduct patrols in a vehicle. It gives you additional protection and ability to get gone at will, but people in cars are a bit more obvious and also are less maneuverable. Let me know which neighborhood you're in.
Important caveat: wherever a real confrontation is called for, leave that to the police and retain a low profile. They have better legal protections from liability than you do and hoodlums' assaulting them is a real no-no in the eyes of the Court.
Where I grew up as a kid, none of the goals
Live, Earn, Play, and Learn
ever called upon assistance from the police, because the law & order they depend upon never really necessitated sworn officers.
In school, if a teacher or the principal told you you were in trouble, you understood that they were in authority, so you did as told. Never a cop needed.
In Baltimore public schools, you apparently tell them they have no authority and cannot tell you what to do. If they touch you, you attack them. Sometimes, even if they just 'dis' you, you attack them. As for fellow students, they just get assaulted, sometimes with weapons.
You need cops.
The rec centers are often so dominated by posses of older kids that many parents refuse to send their kids there. Since the older kids are 'within their rights' until they exceed them, you need cops.
In a top neighborhood where my neighbors are almost all more reputable than me, I can count on group pressure and collective expectations to deter anyone who might become violent. The many eyes on the street will protect my house from undetected vandalism.
In a dicier place many of the neighbors will draw the curtains or are afraid of known hoods who live allover the place. The homeowner putting up the hood is probably benefitting from his illicit activities and will reinforce the implied threat to the law-abiding and counts on the distance which separates you from the police.
You need cops.
In the workplace, young urban males without skills tend to leave entry jobs with frequency and with acrimony. They often just don't have a good work ethic, which is antithetical to small businessmen, and many of them are just not going to fit in. When they are told 'it's just not working out', they often display aggression and an amicable discharge becomes a potential police incident. A small businessman who knows no cops are within a half-hour of his business is ill-advised to bring these volatile candidates into his place.
You need cops.
At least at this moment in time.
Chuck, this site is a service. Not allowing crime to go unnoticed, allowing outrage at crime to be expressed, is a service that may help others to lead the way. This is very important especially as the dominant newspaper fails in its job to hold our leaders feet to the fire.
Amen to that.
I was waling around on my early patrol thinking about what Chuck said...
'I pose the question again: What are each of you doing to improve life in the city? '
and it dawned on me how radically Baltimore departs from other cities.
In New York, a good volunteer activity would be Big Brothers or maybe a soup kitchen or teaching environmental awareness. It's about personal philanthropy. However, one would never imagine relieving the city government of responsibility for teaching the lesson on fractions, plugging potholes, or collecting cans of domestic garbage. Those are thought of as public services, and private persons don't perform those functions.
Baltimore, on the other hand, opens the public schools on Saturday in the summer so that volunteers can paint them. Baltimore holds the Mayor's Cleanup twice annually so that we may clean his city for him. And Baltimore hires about half the cops it reasonably needs in reliance on citizens to maintain law on their block.
However, for those of us who just expect the public work done in exchange for taxes while we go on about our lives in the private sector, this is a pretty rotten deal.
I've always been pretty forthcoming with voluntarism, but in Baltimore, it's like it's not even my choice. It's more like indentured servitude and that's offensive to me.
When the Mayor claims he's got a budget surplus, I disagree. He was paid to paint the schools. He didn't do so. That money is due back. He was paid to plow the streets. He didn't do it. That money is due back. Deduct all the money that should have been spent providing legit public services which never materialized and I don't think you have a surplus.
In fact, it becomes pretty clear that the Convention Hotel was basically paid for with paint stolen by elected officials off of a Balto. City Public Schools truck and fenced through a middleman called the Director of Finance.
I'm kinda fed up with being asked why I'm not doing more work for the stinkin' Mayor. Maybe it's because I'm not a public servant. Maybe, like the rest of the world, he gets only what he's paid for.
Baltimore's a bizarre place: the ruling class are known as municipal employees and the slaves are known as citizens.
Not surprising that so few are engaged in the private sector here. I need to go form a nonprofit or minority sham contractor and get on the gravy train like Sheila Dixon's sister. Unfortunately, that dynamic is also why no one in Baltimore can find a plain, ol' entry-level private-sector job and stay the heck out of trouble.
about your walkabouts Galt, Thanks! That's a service!
Thanks for the info on the patrols, Galt. Great idea, and you're right in how effective it can be.
Do you coordinate with the Northern Precinct? Are they involved at all? I was under the impression that different precincts had outreaches to communities who wanted to do things like that.
I operate quite independently of the Northern. I do, however, work pretty closely with the officers on my posts and with the Major. The Department is usually willing to do a COPs training, but their version is a bit more... sanitized than mine. For instance, in a recent neighborhood meeting, the councilman recommended that we not waste our time on 311 operators who don't know what the heck they're doing. While the police will tell you the same off-record, in the training they will insist that 311 dispatchers are just wonderful, because admitting the truth would be unflattering to this preposterous administration.
It is a really really good idea to coordinate with your police department if you do any kind of citizen patrol. Each department has a community affairs officer who can arrange for training. They respond well to community organizations. The training involves walking with an officer and he will tell you how to conduct a citizen patrol, how to EFFECTIVELY call 911 (not as easy as it sounds), and how to get the most support for problems.
Don't think of it as "walking a beat". You really can't do anything other than collect information. Any kind of delibrate confrontation is absolutely stupid and dangerous.
One way to perform citizen patrols is to get up at daybreak on Saturday mornings and walk with others through the neighborhood. Focus on alleys, as this is where all kinds of violations are most evident. Record problems carefully and systematically and get this information to the police, sanitation enforcement and housing.
One thing that you'll notice is that the trouble-makers in the community typically have MULTIPLE property violations-- open trash, illegal dumping, dog crap, building code issues, occupancy/rental violations, etc. Reporting these with absolute regularly, to the right people, will get things to change.
There are other activities that individuals can do as well, like setting up a "phone tree" with neighbors and faxing info about ongoing crime to an community relations officer that you know.
In general, many many consistent and COOPERATIVE small steps is what will get things to change. Stopping one violent crime will have MUCH LESS an effect on your neighborhood than keeping notes on property violations or doing things like organizing alley clean-ups.
I don't believe in the night patrol thing (even with an officer). It sets up a confrontational situation, and while you might get lucky and see a crime in progress ocassionally, you will mostly just end up wearing down and depressing your volunteers.
Your advice on 311 operators is absolutely incorrect, Galt.
Don't give advice if you don't know what you're talking about.
311 is really good for certain things. You should take that chip out of your shoulder and try it again sometime.
Understand, I'm referring to 311 police calls. My information is ABSOLUTELY correct, as regards police-related calls.
This is, after all, a crime blog.
Now, if you're feeling that you may have to leave the city because some neighbor has a hubcap or dogdish in their backyard, then perhaps leaving is a good idea, because you don't seem to respect the privacy of neighbors very much. If something on their property is so offensive that you just cannot coexist with it, I'd recommend speaking with them.
Clearly, our friend Anonymous is another crime apologist who is simply picking up the phone to interfere in someone else's business, which doen't impress me much. Sorry. Guaranteed, Anon is not routinely exposed to violent crime, and therefore is interested in diverting scarce resources away to some other, far more secondary agenda.
The tune would be rather different if he/she were living deep in the 'hood. Those folks pick fights over dope-dealing near their kids, not ugly furniture on the porch. They have a sense of priorities.
Anon is not doing a crime patrol: he/she is apparently harassing the noncriminal neighbors, which is about the most UNcooperative thing I've ever heard of. Divisive is the proper word. It makes people less willing to cooperate with authorities on things that really matter.
Now, if you are in fact referring to people who have committed a part I/part II crime, then why would you focus on their incidental defects, rather than their criminal conduct? I'm pretty sure Anon hasn't made any neighborhood safer, just more exasperated.
Night patrol is the most important of all, because that's when violent crime is most common. It would certainly be nice if there were police for that purpose instead, but our lousy government doesn't step up, so if I see someone breaking into a house, it's either me or no one.
Y'know, Anon reminds me of an acquaintance of mine who became interested in community activism. She had good intentions, but her experience was limited to really pretty immaculate parts of the city. She volunteered to head a sanitation committee, thinking it was about the occasional candy wrapper she saw in the streetbed. She expected primarily verbal activities. No, we explained. That's in YOUR block. A mere three blocks south we took her on a tour of the 'hood, where drug dealers pile up garbage five feet high in playgrounds so they can have a secure stash. She had never seen anything like it. When our clean team was confronted by the dealers about interfering in their enterprise, she got freaked out and hasn't been back since. She wasn't much help, despite her very nice intent.
Guys, it's not about the small stuff. If you harass people who are otherwise decent neighbors because their paint is flaking, you lose the war, because they too are not on your side.
As for the idea that you're only collecting information: not true. In high-crime areas, you are eyes, ears, AND dispatcher, via 911. I tend to be the first responder in about 1/3 of the incidents in my area, because we just don't have any cops. They generally take 30 to 50 minutes, unless it's gunshots.
Dealing with 911 is, in fact, not as straightforward as you'd expect because operators are under pressure from above to get you to hang up and go away if they can. It reduces the stats. For instance, they will try to convince you that absent a life-threatening incident, you should call 311. Also, they will ask if you need to see the officer. If you say "No. That's unnecessary.", they will instruct him to drive by and then leave, unless he sees a very obvious crime in progress. Incident closed.
Effective neighborhood patrol unfortunately involves managing the dispatching of far too few officers. It involves coercing dispatchers into giving sufficient detail and priority that the officer can actually catch the criminal. Dispatchers have a very, very diffrent agenda. They're trying to manage numbers.
This is one of many skills which the police dept. training really won't address , for the obvious reason that they would have to acknowledge their incapacity.
The things which are of concern to Anon are way, way off my radar screen, except perhaps for bulk dumping. Reporting a dumping to 311 will result in absolutely NO enforcement upon the dumper. In fact, the person who gets fined is the victim, because they won't even come out for another 24 hours. Congratulations. The way to do it is to insist that police respond in real-time so as to catch the offender. This can be hard if many higher-priority calls are queued up in front. You need more cops.
I have known activists who have heaped fines upon their neighbors, thinking they were privileged to pick and choose who received and who didn't. In fact, when the city inspectors get a complaint at 101 Elm St., they do not write it up alone. They wrote up the entire block. Everything. Every little thing.
The effect of this is to polarize the block against the activist. You become the enemy and the dealers and hoodlums, who are 'cool' with the neighbors, become the misunderstood.
Congratulations. You've just embedded the crime. Don't overdo it with the informing on neighbors. It will backfire.
Oh, and if Anon would ever like to discuss actual crime, I'd be delighted.
Oh, and as regards Saturday morning 'patrols', what on earth do you hope to see on Saturday mornings? The people who commit part I and part II crimes largely go to bed around 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, like vampires. If you're concerned with part I/part II offenders, you're about 6-12 hours late.
All of which convinces me you're on the wrong blog. You're not concerned with crime in the conventional sense. You're just interested in imposing your preferences upon everyone around you, kinda like neighbors who rat out my car for being parked two days in front of my house.
I doubt Anon and I would live happily as adjoining neighbors. Fortunately, I speculate that Anon would never consider living in my 'hood. Here, decent neighbors understand that they need one another as allies and that alienating decent neighbors is suicide, 'cause you can't go it alone where I live.
Now, some people just want their neighborhood to appear as if it doesn't have crime. You can have the same number of shootings, burgalries, etc., just so long as the lawn is neatly trimmed.
That's a different agenda. I'm referring to substance, not image.
That said, there is a theory purportedly relating appearance to causation of crime. In point of fact, for those who are sufficiently analytically inclined to do the research, it relates signals of effective sanction to crime incidence. It's called Broken Window theory.
Unfortuntely, those who haven't read it infer that it demonstrates that broken windows cause crime to colocate. In fact, what the data demonstrate is that only if a neighborhood appears neat and orderly AND swiftly and decisively lands on part I/part I offenses with overwhelming police force does the signal of orderliness deter crime. When the signal conveys false information regarding the likelihood of being apprehended/punished for part I/part II crime, the criminal conduct is undeterred.
Image is only a useful anticrime strategy when accompanied by substance. Baltimore, however, is an 'image instead of substance' kinda place. BELIEVE me.
Interestingly, I have observed a habit among image-only advocates consisting of the concealment of crime stats. They think they can attract better, classier people than themselves by advancing falsely understated crime stats on behalf of their neighborhood. The crime is the same, they just lie about it.
By the time the new buyer of a house finds out that the crime is much worse than he was led to believe, the seller has run off with the money and is living it up away from Baltimore. The community advocates are happy because the comparables on their own house just went up on paper, even if their new neighbor just got screwed into living with way more crime than they're comfortable with.
'Broken Windows' is abused to create Ponzi schemes. The positive theory is about crime prevention through diligent policing of both part I and part I offenses, as opposed to code violations.
Oh, I see I've touched a nerve...
You are attempting to trivialize property issues by making up phony examples like "chipping paint" and "ugly furntiture on porch". Of course, that is not what I meant. I mean things like 4 foot high fields of debris in back yards, rampant rat nests, structural issues, vacant houses w/squatters, people stealing power, 20 renters in a 2 story row house, animal abuse, etc, etc, etc...
You mention that night-time is the best time to patrol for a citizen. I disagree. The best time is the morning when (most of) the thugs are in a deep stupor, when people can see, and when people won't be assaulted.
Like I said, you may be lucky to catch an ocassional crime in progress at night. Most likely however, it won't be a burglary. Those typically happen in broad daylight on weekday mornings.
You can pretend to be a "first responder" super-hero all you want, Galt. But the sad reality is that you are giving bad advice to folks. I normally wouldn't care, but I would hate to see someone assaulted, stabbed or arrested (like you have been) because they took your advice.
As for open air drug dealing (which we still have in my neighborhood), citizen patrols are a useless deterrent. A much better thing to do is for the people who live in the midst of it to keep notes and reliable dialog open with the police. Simple things like "who" lives "where", names, landlords, and license plates can do MUCH more than walking around like a geek at night with a cell phone.
Cops do not want databases of names, numbers, etc. They don't have the time for that level of strategy on drug dealers. The way you would deal with it would be exactly to bust them anytime you suspect they're in possession. The problem is that the courts don't assign decent sentences unless there's an extra, like a handgun. Incapacitation through incarceration works very well. It does, however, have some social consequences. OCD is where you want to supply extensive data.
What persistent citizen patrols do accomplish is to drive them inside, which tends to diminish the violence.
I'm not fond of being a first-responder. I've been very vocal to the effect that it should be someone else's job. I wish to be unemployed in this regard. Your lousy government IS responsible for that policing. They should be jailed for some kind of contempt until they see to it.
Burglaries in the most functional neighborhoods involve white-collar workers who've left their homes unattended by daylight. In my area, burglaries are more nightime events and, yes, I do apprehend people.
I've been very clear that supplementing BCPD patrols proactively can be hazardous. I do not generally recommend it for 'nice' people from 'nice' backgrounds. In my area, however, it's a war, understand? And BCPD is losing it, so we're gonna do what it takes. Quite a few of my neighbors have purchased guns, because they're not gonna take it lyin' down. That's unfortunate, but a direct result of the lousy staffing here.
Query: what the heck are you patrolling in the morning??? Or are you referring to fairly professional B&E guys in high end neighborhoods? I could understand that strategy if you don't really have resident hoodlums, because they're doing their thing at night, which is when they need babysitting. True enough, if you're trying to avoid physical confrontations at all costs, then you would stay home at night. I, on the other hand, want the conduct addressed. Preferrably by cops, but addressed nonetheless.
If I trivialized your property-related concerns, my apologies. The type of action you were referring to is primarily going to get at trivial things.
If people are breaking into houses, whether vacant or not, it's not primarily a code problem. It's a conduct problem and you should ask police to arrest them. Same deal if they're vandalizing the electrical system.
If trucks dump 4 feet of debris in some back yard, again, call police to arrest the dumper. Fining the recipient isn't going to stop the dumping, just accelerate abandonment.
Animal abuse: another case for a police officer. It's conduct. They will need to know the details so that they can ascertain a crime quickly. If they need health dept. specialists, they'll refer it. This is somewhat distinct from neglect, which is more condition than conduct.
I maintain my view that the number and ethnicity of occupants is none of your business, unless they're doing something wrong. It's about conduct.
Rats are a tough problem. Often, one property contributes habitat, while another provides the necessary food. Speaking with your neighbors works best, in my experience.
I don't mean to rattle your cage, Anon. It's just that Baltimore City subjects me in my area to a very different level and character of crime than you are apparently facing. It is unlivable, yet the City doesn't provide the policing which would be necessary to mitigate.
As in any other disaster scenario, citizen have to take up arms at a certain point. Apparently, it's not at that point where you are. God bless. If low-level offenses in your area can best be addressed by very risk-free morning constitutionals, then you are living in a much better place than I.
Here, two thirds of all males are permanently outside the labor force. Half of these are on supervised parole or probation status of recent date. Most belong incarcerated. Keeping them there requires babysitting, which is best done by police.
A correct-ish number of police for here would be about ten times the number who presently are so assigned. So, nine of ten hoods are pretty much at liberty to do anything they please to whomever they please. They know it, the police know it.
The pleasant, daylight review of 'things which could improve' in your neighborhood is so, so more civilized than what we're dealing with, they're just not comparable. That's why I respond so negatively to the notion that correcting a basket of code problems is worth more than eliminating violent incidents. How many times have you been the victim of violent crime there?
Question: about what percentage of your residents do you guess are on active parole/probation status?
I suspect you and I are living in very, very different Baltimores. I suppose that's the nerve you hit. I don't think the State should allow Baltimore to operate two different cities with differential enforcement of criminal laws. I kinda think of it in terms of the fourteenth amendment.
If you ever had as little police presence per local hoodlum as we have, you'd be kinda ballistic too.
I don't think that your area is different qualitatively from mine. Its a matter of degree. I do admit however that my area has gentrified to the extent that I personally don't want/need to do citizen patrols.
You keep talking about "catching people" in the act of criminal "conduct". It just doesn't work that way. It would be nice to "be there" when a nasty contractor is illegally dumping a load of junk in the alley, but of course, it never happens when you expect it and are ready.
There are somethings that we perhaps agree on. Its easy to spot preps scoping cars and houses. I've called 911'd such incidents in before and gotten police response. But anything more than that, and you really aren't going to be an effective deterrent as a citizen.
Keeping tabs (in the way that I described) on problem properties works. People can do it relatively safely and it does help. Yes, it means that entire blocks of folks who fail to use garbarge cans get cited. I seriously don't have a problem with that-- especially when slumlords get multiple citations. The mishandling of garbage is why rats are out of control and why some alleys smell so bad they make you puke. It contributes, as much as anything else, to making an environment where only those who can't get out stay.
As far as more serious crimes (drug dealing) is concerned, the police REALLY DO have databases and if you cultivate a working relationship with the right officer, it is possible for him get your data to detectives that are in the business of conducting surveillance and are the ones who actually get people in jail for drug dealing. I've seen it happen.
I don't appreciate your attempt attach to me any interest in the ethnicity of occupants. I never said anything about that. You did. Besides, you have no idea of my ethnicity. Please serve that red herring somewhere else.
As for the number of people on the street who are felons or have criminal/arrest records... that is a statistical number for policy makers that is useless to regular citizens in terms of assessing their immediate danger on the sidewalk. You can play games with trying to "guess" who is or is not a felon, but you never really know, do you? All you can do is to summon up pathetic stereotypes and prejudices to color some government-computed probability.
If your area has gentrified to the degree you suggest, it's way past us. We're still in the primordial ooze stage.
Surveillance does work. I have caught dumpers and testified at trial, demanding that the court impose substantial fines, as they regularly should. Citizens shouldn't have to do this. Decent cities have police proportionate to their troublemaking population.
I disagree that only by IDing burglary perps can a citizen be effective. When I see large 'herds' of young urban males wandering the streets looking for trouble to get into, I don't leave loners I've passed on the way to their tender mercies. They understand pretty well that picking on the lone walker will get an immediate 911 as long as I'm within sight. I also advise pedestrians around which corners are troublesome people. Similarly, our solo hoodlums understand that I will be watching as long as they are within my field of vision, so they usually won't misbehave while I'm about.
The detectives you referred to are what I referred to as OCD ops, and yes, I give them a great deal of data. The tougher part is getting a judge to send down a meaningful sentence, since they often wish to think of CDS as a victimless crime.
As to probation and arrest records, you are quite mistaken. I do know. I know exactly and precisely. By zip code, by census tract, by case number... I have the data. Further, I know so many of the cases, because I'm the prime witness in so many of them.
As to your issues with other people's yards, again, I accord my neighbors a bit more privacy in their own yard, provided they're more or less law-abiding. I'm more inclined to volunteer to clean their alley than to call in a citation. It just seems too much like children informing on their parents under the Third Reich for my taste. But that's me.
Now perhaps once we've gotten part I/part II crimes down to possibility from probability, perhaps I'd be more incensed at malodorous garbage vessels. That won't be anytime soon, because as of last month the BCPD was 130 sworn officers short of its (low) authorized strength.
So many hoods to babysit, so few babysitters to spread around too thinly.
Hey, I have cleaned alleys and in places other than my hood. Its fun, it is a nice way to meet new folks, but sadly, that is not enough. Citations are the only thing that some people understand.
As for a horde of kids that are about to start "wilding", we have that too. Many people in the neighborhood know exactly what to do in that situation, yeah, its a recognizable pattern of behavior.
Yeah, I mean, I'm ok with citations. I'd just like them written to the person who did the deed, not the nearest victim.
I've had someone else's rehab contractors pull up in the alley behind my house and dump their stuff, only to get a blinkin' citation for it in the mail and then have to pay a hauler to get rid of it on top of everything.
I just feel put upon.
Again, if you have neighborhood patrolpersons, beat cops, whatever, you can actually nail these bastards in real-time.
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